Children should be warned not to approach dogs when they are eating, have a toy, or sleeping, says the RSPCA. Photograph: Juniors Bildarchiv / Alamy/Alamy

Hospital admissions for injuries caused by dogs have risen 5.2% in England, with young children suffering the most wounds.

Around one in six hospital admissions for dog bite and strike injuries involved a child aged under 10, according to provisional data from the Health and Social Care Information Centre. Of those, almost half required plastic surgery, and more than a quarter led to facial surgery.

The most recent figures, for the year ending April 2012, showed a total of 6,450 admissions for dog bites or strikes, an increase of 5.2% on the previous year. Of those 1,040 were of under-10s, with nearly half (494 admissions) requiring plastic surgery, and 27% (278 admissions) resulting in oral or facial surgery.

The Hospital Episode Statistics show under-10s accounted for the highest rate of admissions by 10-year age group.

Overall, people living in the north-east were more likely to be admitted to hospital following a dog attack. There were 21 admissions per 100,000 of the population, or 551 in total, in the North East Strategic Health Authority's area. Admission rates were lowest in London, where there were seven for every 100,000 of the population.

While children were more likely to undergo plastic surgery, admission rates for adults were higher for trauma and orthopaedic treatment.

The statistics were greeted with calls for the government to amend legislation aimed at controlling dangerous dogs.

Dogs Trust, the UK's largest dog welfare charity, said it was deeply concerned by the rising number of dog attacks. "We believe it is the responsibility of dog owners to ensure their dogs are properly trained and under control and advise that children should never be left alone with a dog," it said.

"Preventing dog attacks is vital and new measures are needed to place more responsibility on the owners of dangerous dogs. Dogs Trust is calling on the government to repeal and replace the existing Dangerous Dogs Act with new legislation that better protects the public and is strongly in favour of compulsory microchipping as it can help improve the traceability of irresponsible dog owners."

The RSPCA animal welfare charity stressed the vast majority of bites treated by the NHS would not necessarily be down to dogs being more aggressive, but rather due to human behaviour around dogs.

"Owning a dog is a privilege with responsibilities, not a right with entitlements. We need strong deterrents to stop owners whose dogs are dangerously out of control and for those people who abuse animals. Tougher sentences will help with the former and need to be applied to the latter," it said.

"We need dog owners to be accountable, the law to be enforced and the courts to take dog abuse, abandonment and attacks seriously."

Children tended to treat pet dogs as their peers, it said, often cuddling and kissing them with very close facial contact, which a dog could find threatening. Children should not be left alone with dogs and warned not to approach them when the dog was eating, had a toy or possession, was sleeping, sick, injured, in pain, tired or had hearing or vision impairment.

RSPCA guidelines show gestures from dogs showing they are feeling uncomfortable include yawning, lip licking, averting their gaze, turning their head away, dropping ears, crouching, low wagging, tucking their tail under and rolling over on their backs.